| Contents | Classes | Subclasses | Orders | Suborders |
Suborder (2) Tintinnina Kofoid & Campbell, 1929
| Syns. | Tintinnida, Tintinnoida, Tintinnoidea, Tintinnoina, Tintinnoinea |
Body cylindrical or cone-shaped, highly contractile, often with elongate posterior end; all loricate; ciliature dominated by apically located buccal paramembranelles (sometimes with interspersed tentaculoids) in a "closed" arrangement; a perilemma presumably universally present; loricae range 25-1,000 µm in length, up to 3,000 µm if certain aberrant çuestionable fossil material included (but usual size, 100-200 µm); widespread members of marine pelagic and neritic plankton (with fossil evidence for past aeons), but several forms found abundantly in fresh-water habitats; form, size, and composition of the universally possessed lorica most important diagnostically at all infrasubordinal taxonomic levels.
[I do not accept the all-fossil families Calpionellidae Bonet, 1956 and Colomiellidae Bonet, 1956, distributing their genera among other families. Highly doubtful all-fossil genera are listed at the bottom of page 307.]
| Lorica tubular or flaring; collar typically absent; wall gelatinous, with agglutinated particles and spiral structure; found in marine, brackish, and (occasionally) fresh-water habitats; no fossil species known (to date). | Family TINTINNIDIIDAE Kofoid & Campbell, 1929 |
| Lorica tubular to cup-shaped, with aboral end sometimes pointed; with or without collar; wall commonly reticulate and may be agglutinated; predominantly marine (neritic and eupelagic) forms, but a few species (e.g., of Codonella and Tintinnopsis) abundant in the plankton of freshwater lakes, rivers, and ponds; numerous fossi! as well as widespread contemporary forms. | Family CODONELLIDAE Kent, 1881 |
| Lorica top-shaped, with aboral end rounded to apiculate; collar delicate but sometimes ridged, with wall of bowl thicker and reticulate or agglutinated; all species marine (neritic and eupelagic); many fossil as well as extant forms. | Family CODONELLOPSIDAE Kofoid & Campbell, 1929 |
| Lorica tubular or goblet-shaped, delicate and with spirally wound lamina; aboral end sometimes with horn; wall may have prismatic structure and/or be agglutinated with coccoliths; practically all marine (eupelagic and neritic) forms, though occasionally one found in fresh water; a number of fossil species. | Family METACYLIDIDAE Kofoid & Campbell, 1929 |
| Lorica short, acorn-shaped, sometimes with suboral shelf; aboral end blunt, acuminate, or with horn; wall thin, hyaline, reticulate; all forms marine (eupelagic); no fossil species. | Family EPIPLOCYLIDIDAE Kofoid & Campbell, 1939 |
| Lorica bell- or kettle-shaped, sometimes elongate; collar flared above constriction; wall may be reticulate; all forms marine (predominantly eupelagic). No fossil species. | Family CYTTAROCYLIDIDAE Kofoid & Campbell, 1929 |
| Lorica cup-shaped, not elongate, with smooth to denticulate oral rim; one or two collars; some species with agglutinated coccoliths; all forms marine (mainly eupelagic); no fossil species. | Family ASCAMPBELLIELLIDAE Corliss, 1960 |
| Lorica with dense bowl; collar with open arched frames or windows (latter with or without panes); wall of bowl reticulate and, in some species, agglutinated; all forms marine (eupelagic); no true fossil species. | Family DICTYOCYSTIDAE Haeckel, 1873 |
| Lorica bell- or kettle-shaped, with elongate bowl; oral rim toothed or with lip; wall trilaminated, alveolar in midsection; all forms marine (mostly eupelagic); no fossil species. | Family PTYCHOCYLIDIDAE Kofoid & Campbell, 1929 |
| Lorica conical to chalice-shaped; opening rimmed; aboral horn in some species; wall with vertical ribs; all forms marine (mostly eupelagic); no fossil species. | Family RHABDONELLIDAE Kofoid & Campbell, 1929 |
| Lorica elongate, chalice-shaped; aboral end long and narrow; wall reticulate; all species marine (mainly eupelagic); a few fossil forms known. | Family XYSTONELLIDAE Kofoid & Campbell, 1929 |
| Lorica goblet-shaped, occasionally elongate and sometimes with suboral ledge; an inner collar may be present; wall trilayered; all forms marine (eupelagic); no fossil species. | Family UNDELLIDAE Kofoid & Campbell, 1929 |
| Lorica elongate; oral end flared; in some species, both ends of lorica open; wall hyaline; primarily marine (eupelagic) forms, but few found in brackish habitats; no fossil species. | Family TINTINNIDAE Claparéde & Lachmann, 1858 |
| Incertae sedis in suborder Tintinnina: Genera considered by some authorities as containing forms which are only parts of the body of fossil molluscs: |
| Campbelliella Radoicic, 1959, few species; |
| Daturellina Radoicic, 1959, several species; |
| Hadziina Radoicic, 1969 (for Hadziella), single species; |
| Metacyclina Radoicic, 1965, several species; |
| Zetella Radoicic, 1965, single species. |
| Genus labeled as a crinoid by some workers: | Genera representing a group of "stomiosphaerid" fossils of unknown affinities, though occasionally listed in the literature as. "uncertain tintinnines": |
| Patelloides Leischner, 1959, single species. | Bonetocardiella Dufour, 1968, few species;
Cadosina Wanner, 1940, several to many species; Cadosinopsis Scheibner, 1967, single species; Carpistomiosphaera Nowak, 1968, few species; Colomisphaera Nowak, 1968, few species; Hemistomiosphaera Nowak, 1968, single species; Parastomiosphaera Nowak, 1968, single species; Stomiosphaera Wanner, 1940, many species. |
Special comment:
There appear to be three main problems in the taxonomy of tintinnines: